Sea Change
by SkycladFox
Summary: AKA, What Happened With Gary and Larry. Short and sweet tale of what took place when Gary sought out Larry to finally make his feelings clear. Third of the Zootopian Tails.


Gary had been fidgeting and fretting outside the hospital for the best part of twenty minutes, rehearsing what he was going to say over and over again. Twice he'd all but turned tail, but the same thing that kept him from leaving those times now, finally, drove him into the building, and up to the reception desk.

"I'm looking for Larry Howlston," he told the giant panda receptionist, failing completely to keep the anxiety out of his voice.

"One moment." They clicked a short medley of keys, then looked up, politely apologetic. "I'm afraid he's not here any more; he checked out two hours ago."

"What?" Gary's heart dropped to his paws. He swallowed, trying not to shake. "Did...did he say where he was going?"

The panda regarded him a moment. "What's your name?"

"Gary. Gary Luposa. Why?"

"He left a message for you: 'Meet we where we met'."

The wolf gaped, stupefied, then grabbed the receptionist's paw and shook it vigorously. "Thank you!" Then he was tearing back out of the hospital, leaving a bemused panda in his wake.

Two subway rides and forty minutes later Gary reached the southern end of Savanna Central. On the coast of the lake that wrapped around most of Zootopia, so vast it was nearly an inland sea, lay a small, quiet park, just a few trees and flowers and benches. On one of the latter a dark grey wolf was sat, staring intently out across the water.

"Larry..." Nerves hit Gary so violently he had to grasp a lamppost to steady himself.

All he could do for quite some time was stare at the other canine, at the half-mast ears, the ragged fur, the foot in a cast, the sling that held one arm to their chest, the faint tremble that ran through them every so often. Finally, gradually, one step at a time, Gary began to approach Larry, fretfully wringing his paws.

The other wolf noticed him when he was halfway there, starting with a gasp and pushing themselves upright. It took a lot of effort, and they had to lean on the back of the bench afterwards, and that was enough for Gary to run to them, wrapping one arm around them and fussing over them with the other paw.

"What are you doing out of hospital?!"

"Gary, I -"

"You should be resting, not running around town!"

"Gary -"

"What if you hurt yourself?"

"Gar-"

"Or-or those awful mammals found you again?"

"Ga-"

"Or you couldn't get across the road in time and a car hit you?!"

"G-"

"Or-mmph!"

Larry's paw clamped Gary's muzzle shut. "I had to leave; it was stifling and smelled like death. I came here because I needed to think, and to think about _you_ , and I couldn't think of a better place to think than the one where we first met."

Gary's eyes widened. "Mmph?"

Larry chuckled, his paw releasing the other wolf's snout. "Yes, you. I was trying to think of a way to convince you what happened wasn't in any way your fault, and..."

"Oh, I know." Gary nodded. "I met some lovely people at the Oasis, a big fat friendly cheetah in particular, who helped me see that. Still feel kinda guilty, though..."

Larry lightly flicked his nose. "Don't. And make sure to thank them all for helping."

"Have done." Gary nodded, then his ears perked. "Wanna meet 'em, Lar? They're at the Oasis."

Light blue eyes widened. "Er, maybe another time. Right now, I want to talk about _us_..."

Gary started to tremble a little again. "Y-yeah, I want to...too..."

Larry's paw settled on the other wolf's shoulder. "Turns out, almost dying's great for making you finally see what's right in front of you."

Gary was looking at his companion's chin. "A goofy, naïve, overgrown cub of a wolf who's hoping for something he'll probably never have..."

Larry rolled his eyes, then his paw lifted the other lupine's muzzle so their eyes met. "And what's that?"

Gary had to force the word out, and it was only a whisper. "You..." His gaze flicked up just for a second. "A-as my mate. It's silly, I know. Why would you ever want to..."

He was silenced by Larry's lips brushing his own; it was brief, soft and short-circuited every single synapse in his brain. All Gary could do was stare in a dumb stupor, ears twitching to random angles.

"Because you _are_ a goofy, naïve, overgrown cub of a wolf," Larry told him, with a depth of affection that made him tear up a little. "You keep my spirits up like nothing else can, and I love you for it."

Gary only had one answer to that – he returned the kiss, firmly and with a lick for good measure, his tail wagging wildly. A guffawing Larry responded, and pretty quickly their muzzles were blending fully, a long and tender and slightly clumsy kiss that left them both a bit breathless when it finally ended.

"So, what now?" Gary asked, a smidgen of nerves creeping back in. "I mean, where do we go from here?"

"We go back to the apartment, and have something to eat. Then we relax with a movie, and finally sleep together."

Gary's ears went bright red. "Iiii'm not ready for that, yet..."

"Literally, not figuratively." Larry gave him a fond tweak of a whisker.

"Oh. Of course." Gary chuckled. "But I meant 'where' as in 'where do we go in our lives from here'?"

"We can worry about that later." Larry began to slowly walk. "I think we've earned some time to just enjoy ourselves."

"Can't argue with that!" Gary hastened to join his mate, wrapping an arm around them for support. "I still think you ought to visit the Oasis with me – you'll love it, I swear!"

"I'm really not sure..."

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease?"

"Oh, god, the eyes! That's not fair, Gary. Not fair at all. I...I...I'll visit it with you, but only when I feel well enough, all right?"

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

" _Ack_ , you big sop; please don't lick me like that in public! You're lucky I love you, you know that?"

Gary's grin was as wide and bright as the moon. "Yes. Yes, I do."


End file.
